Photo: WBZ NewsRadio Archive
WINCHESTER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — If summer in New England was a flower, it would be a hydrangea.
And it’s a sentiment Isabell Cocklin (aka Belly) from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” would agree with. The flower surrounded the summer house and the bouquet she would have held for her wedding in season 3 of the hit Amazon Prime original series, set on a beach on Cape Cod.
Photo: Courtesy of Erika Doss/Prime Video
Though hydrangeas were an iconic symbol of summer in Massachusetts way before Belly came along, the flora staple on the islands could be a less reliable bloom this year, according to garden expert Jessican Zander with You Can Do It Gardening.
“People should just brace themselves for not having a good year,” she said.
She explained that big-leaf hydrangeas are not meant to deal with harsh New England winters, like the one that brought a massive blizzard to the area last month, especially not on the mainland.
In the last couple of years, winters have been milder, leading to dramatic hydrangea blossoms and a rush to buy the plants a few seasons in a row.
“I met with over 1,600 clients,” Zander said. “When I go to a property, I would say 95% of people would have one of these things.”
“People see these pictures from that region, the Cape and Islands, and think 'oh, I want them!'" she said. But it tends to be more temperate there, which is why those plants are routinely more successful.
She added that if the plants look dead, that doesn’t necessarily mean the buds on the plants are also at their end, and the last thing an avid gardener should do is to cut down the bare branches.
The real test is to wait until May to see how many buds will bloom
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.